Thursday,March11,2010
Pakistan : A journey to the Thar desert in the Sindh province reveals hidden historical and cultural gems, waiting to be discovered. The desert’s harsh temperatures contrasts the soft, welcoming side of the Thar people. It is a fitting juxtaposition; yet Man and nature have supported each other through the years, amidst this contrast. -Text by Liyana Low, Photos by Syafiqah Omar and Liyana Low
“Thar and my heart are the two names of the same desert”, once wrote Mazhar-ul-Islam, the famous writer. Upon first hearing this, it seemed nothing more than a romanticised idea of a desert. After all, how much magic can sand cast on one?
A Thari Hindu Woman in her striking sari, arms filled to the shoulders with bangles, sitting in the shade of a building along the streets of Islamkot.
A Thari Hindu Woman going back to her village with the water from the well. Women generally need walk long distances to collect water from wells in water-scarce Thar. While men go to the main towns for work, the women stay in the villages to take care of farming chores.
Children playing in their neighbourhood of thatched roof huts among the sand dunes in Mithi.
Cows are commonly seen in the Hindu-majority towns of Thar. Thar’s Hindus and Muslims looked after each other during the time of the partition and continue to live peacefully with each other to this day.
An ancient, abandoned Jain temple lying in the middle of the Thar desert. No one knows how old the temple is as there are no official records in history.
Thirty kilometers away from this road lies the Indian state of Gujarat. Thar shares similar cultural characteristics to the neighbouring Indian desert states of Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The town of Mithi comes alive at night with glowing lights against the night desert sky.
In Darkness Mithi City turn into a ‘city of lights’. Standing before a fort that overlooked the whole city, the city glowed like a jewel, its tiny lights flickering in every hut.In the distance, you can heard music being played; the air was festive, in line with Eid Milad-un-Nabi. Green flags for the Prophet’s birthday were hung beside Holi’s colourful lights, the Hindu religious festival that was to fall on the following day.
With Hindus making up almost half of Mithi’s population, possibly the largest number of Hindu population in Pakistan, this meant that the people of Mithi have been practicing harmony and tolerance for centuries.
This peaceful co-existence of both religions was also seen during partition when Mithi was denied any real bloodshed, seeing that both religious groups sought to protect each other. The only type of migration that took place was only in the form of Hindu elites who crossed the sandy terrains over to India.
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